Re: Steel and Gunpowder

Voss snapped his head upward. His eyes scanned the snow-covered branches of the giant trees directly above the path.

For a second, he just saw green pine needles and white snow. Then, the shadows shifted.

There were people up there. About five men, wearing white furs that made them blend into the snowy canopy.

They stood on the highest branches. Their hands tightly gripped a hemp rope.

"Look out! Above you!" Voss roared at the top of his lungs. He raised his mace.

His warning came just a second too late. The five men in the trees let go of the rope at the same time.

"Move!" Brandt screamed. He dived backward into the deep snow.

A bundle of heavy timber crashed down into the front line of the Swabian army.

Men screamed in sudden agony. The weight of the falling trees smashed right through their leather armor.

The army line was stretched out long and narrow. Four thousand men walked single file or in small groups between the trees.

The timber only hit the very front of the vanguard. Out of the four thousand armed soldiers, about forty men were crushed beneath the wood.

Blood quickly stained the pristine white snow. It turned into a red slush. The forty men under the timber were dead. Their bodies flattened under the weight.

A moment of stunned shock washed over the surviving soldiers.

They were the elite vanguard of Alemannia. Seeing forty of their brothers wiped out by falling trees made their blood boil with intense rage.

"They are in the trees!" Hans yelled. He scrambled to his feet and pointed his rifle upward. "Shoot those bastards!"

Without waiting for an official command, the front line of the surviving Jaegers reacted purely on angry instinct.

About fifty soldiers raised their iron rifles. They aimed the barrels straight up into the snowy canopy.

Voss saw the men pulling the bolts back. His eyes widened.

"Wait! Stop!" Voss screamed. He waved his hands. "Do not shoot the rifles! The sound will—"

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

The deafening thunder of fifty Pattern-3 rifles firing at the exact same time ripped through the quiet forest. It was incredibly loud.

The explosion of Swabian powder creates a large shockwave. In an open field, the sound simply fades away. But in a dense forest surrounded by mountains, the loud crack of the rifles echoes endlessly. It bounced off the trees and the rocks, multiplying the sound until it sounded like the sky itself was tearing apart...

The five Austrian loyalists did not stand a chance. The conical bullets tore through the pine branches and shredded their bodies.

The five men fell from the high canopy. They crashed into the bloody snow next to the timber. They were dead before they even hit the ground.

A cloud of white, smelly sulfur smoke filled the narrow path. Voss coughed. He waved his hand to clear the air.

"Idiots!" Voss shouted. He marched over to the soldier who had fired first. He grabbed the man by the collar of his uniform. "I told you to stop!"

Brandt quickly ran over. He pulled Voss’s hand away from the soldier. "General Voss, please! The men just watched their brothers get crushed. They were angry. They just reacted to the enemy!"

Voss let go of the soldier. He took a long breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He looked down at the dead loyalists lying in the snow.

They wore ragged furs. They carried nothing but simple hunting knives.

"I am not angry that they killed them, Brandt," Voss said. "I am angry because of the noise! We are in enemy territory. These rebels know the land. We were supposed to march quietly and find their main camp. Now? Every single person in this mountain pass knows exactly where we are!"

Hans walked over. He kicked one of the dead men with his boot. "Well... they set a trap for us first. We could not just let them swing back up into the trees like monkeys, right?"

Voss knew Hans was right. Still, the strategic disadvantage was huge.

They had lost the element of surprise entirely. The loud gunshots were probably still echoing miles away across the peaks.

Voss sighed. He looked at the remaining men. They were nervous. They reloaded their rifles with shaking hands.

"Whatever," Voss grumbled loudly so the men could hear him. "The thunder is already out of the bottle! We cannot put it back in. Since they already shot their guns, just continue! Finish reloading your weapons! Keep your maces ready!"

"Yes, General!" the men shouted back. Their confidence slowly returned as they pushed fresh brass cartridges into their barrels.

"Let us move the timber and clear the path," Brandt ordered his lieutenants. "We cannot leave our dead brothers under the wood like this."

"Leave them," Voss commanded. He stared ahead into the path. "We do not have time to dig graves in the ice. We will bury them properly when we secure the pass. Right now, we keep moving before the rebels set up another trap."

Brandt nodded grimly.

The army reformed its lines. They stepped carefully around the timber and the bloody snow.

Voss took the lead again. He held his compass in one hand and his drawn mace in the other. Hans and Brandt walked right beside him. Their eyes constantly scanned the branches above.

"Do you think there are more traps?" Hans asked. His voice was low.

"Of course there are," Voss replied. His eyes darted from tree to tree. "They will fight to the bitter end using the dirt, the trees, and the snow to kill us. We just have to be smarter than a bunch of wood."

The forest seemed to grow even darker. The pine needles blocked out almost all of the pale sunlight.

The only sound was the crunching of boots and the clinking of iron weapons.

Then, Voss heard it. It was a soft whistling sound slicing through the freezing air.

"Take cover!"

But the Jaegers did not carry wooden shields. They only carried rifles and maces.

Suddenly, the soldier walking right behind Brandt let out a choking gasp.

Voss spun around. The young soldier dropped his rifle. His hands flew up to his neck.

A long, black wooden crossbow bolt stuck straight out of his throat. The sharp iron arrowhead pierced his windpipe. The man collapsed into the snow, bleeding heavily.

Three more bolts rained down from the dark trees ahead. They buried themselves into the chests of the advancing Jaegers.

"Ambush!" Brandt roared. He raised his own rifle. "They are shooting from the shadows!"

Voss raised his mace. His eyes searched the forest ahead, but he could not see a single enemy. The bolts were just flying out of the mist.

"Where are they shooting from?" Voss muttered.

More black bolts tore through the air. They buried themselves into the grey coats of the Jaegers.

Another soldier screamed. He dropped his rifle into the snow as a bolt pierced his shoulder.

"Break the line!" Voss roared at the top of his lungs. "Do not stand together! Loosen the formation! Get between the pine trees and take cover behind the rocks!"

"Move! Move your frozen legs!" Hans shouted. He waved his mace. He grabbed a soldier by the collar and shoved him behind an oak tree.

The army instantly scattered.

The Jaegers dived behind tree trunks. They slid behind frosted boulders. They threw themselves flat into the snowbanks.

Moving under enemy fire comes with a heavy price. While the soldiers ran for cover, the hidden crossbowmen continued to shoot.

Five more men gasped. They collapsed into the bloody slush before they could reach safety.

Voss slid behind a boulder. He breathed heavily. His eyes darted left and right.

Brandt and Hans dived in right behind him.

"Curse them!" Hans shouted. "Where are the bolts coming from?!"

"They are shooting from the shadows up ahead," Brandt said. "We are pinned down. Every time a man pokes his head out to aim, a bolt flies at his face."

The Austrian loyalists knew how to use the pine forest to their advantage. They hid behind bushes and elevated rocks. They blended into the gray mist.

"Calm down," Voss whispered. He closed his eyes for a second to listen to the wind. "They are using traditional hunting crossbows. That means they have to stand up or lean out to draw the bowstring back. They are exposing themselves, but only for a single second."

"A second is not enough time to aim a rifle, General," Brandt pointed out grimly.

"It is if we know exactly when they are going to shoot," Voss grinned. A sharp look flashed across his face.

He peeked around the edge of the boulder. He quickly scanned the positions of his men. They were all safely hidden behind trees and rocks. They waited for his command.

If a crossbowman is waiting for a target to appear, he will instantly draw his weapon and shoot the moment he sees movement. Voss realized he could use this pure instinct against them.

"Listen to me carefully," Voss said. He pulled Brandt and Hans closer. "Brandt, signal the men hiding on the right side of the path. Tell them that when I raise my hand, they need to step out from cover."

Brandt’s eyes widened. "Step out? General..."

"Let me finish," Voss chuckled softly. "They will step out into the open, but they must not shoot. They will instantly step right back behind their trees. It needs to be a quick flash of a grey uniform, nothing more."

"When the right side steps out, the hidden crossbowmen will instantly reveal themselves to shoot at the movement. At that exact same second... the men on the left side of the path will step out with their rifles fully aimed, and they will shoot the bastards who just gave away their positions!"

It was a simple maneuver. By sacrificing zero men, they would trick the entire enemy line into standing up.

"Pass the orders down the line," Brandt commanded his lieutenants. He used hand signals to spread the word quietly through the forest.

Voss waited two minutes. He ensured every single soldier understood the plan.

He looked to the right side of the path. The men gave him small nods. He looked to the left side. The men already had their rifles raised to their shoulders. Their fingers rested lightly on the triggers.

"Get ready," Voss whispered. He slowly raised his hand into the air.

He held his breath. The forest was entirely still.

"Now!" Voss yelled. He dropped his hand.

Instantly, about three hundred Jaegers on the right side of the path stepped out from behind their trees and rocks. They stood in the open snow for exactly one heartbeat.

From the shadows ahead, the rustle of pine branches echoed loudly. The Austrian loyalists took the bait.

Desperate to kill the exposed soldiers, dozens of figures in white furs stood up from behind bushes. They leaned out from behind distant trees. They aimed their crossbows.

A volley of black bolts sliced through the air. But the three hundred Jaegers on the right side had already stepped backward. They dived safely behind the wood of the pine trees.

The bolts struck nothing but empty snow and hard bark. They clattered to the ground.

"Left side! Fire!" Brandt roared.